Bruins come out flat, miss opportunity to advance in Game 5 loss to Maple Leafs 

BOSTON – It looked, at the start of Game 5, as if the Boston Bruins had never met each other, never skated together. They were fractured, disjointed, rarely hanging onto the puck, barely spending time in the offensive zone let alone the sustained shifts that they had wanted. There were passes to no one and turnovers, play that was baffling to anyone who had watched them systematically take down the Toronto Maple Leafs in the previous two games. 

It was, in a word, confusing.

“We weren’t good enough,” coach Jim Montgomery said after the 3-2 overtime loss in Game 5. “Just simple as that. Toronto came out ready to play, they took it to us. We weren’t ready to match their desperation.”

After winning two games against the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the Bruins came back to Boston with exactly the situation they wanted: up 3-1 in the best-of-7 series with a chance to close it out at home on Tuesday and advance to the second round. They would be facing a Maple Leafs team that had ended the last game sniping at each other and which was without its best player, with Auston Matthews unable to play in Game 5.

It all seemed perfectly set up for a Bruins win. Until the puck dropped. 

“They were just better,” captain Brad Marchand said. “They came and they were willing to leave it all on the line tonight. We needed to be better than we were. It’s that simple. They were prepared to play and start the game, and we weren’t. Unfortunately, we never really kind of got it together throughout the game. 

“It’s on to the next one.”

The Bruins struggled mightily at the start of the game, managing just two shots in the first period to Toronto’s 12. They eked out a goal to match the one scored by the Maple Leafs, though, with Trent Frederic tying the game at 13:54 after Jake McCabe had opened the scoring at 5:33.

As they hit the midpoint of the second period, the Bruins seemed to finally find their rhythm, their way, and their zone time ticked up and their chances ticked up and they started, eventually, to challenge Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll.

And yet, though they got better as the game went on, they never really found their stride, never really got it together. Buoyed by yet another outstanding performance by goalie Jeremy Swayman, they did manage to hang on until overtime when Matthew Knies scored the game-winner at 2:26. John Tavares brought the puck up the right side and put it on net, where it ticked off the post, under Swayman’s stick and over to Knies for the 2-1 win that sent the series to 3-2.

But, really, they never had it.

“We needed better urgency,” Marchand said. “We knew they were going to come and compete hard and be prepared, so we needed to be better. It is what it is. Can’t dwell on it. Got to look at what we can be better at and prepare for the next one.”

There were few answers from the Bruins after the game, few explanations as to what had happened and why they had come out so flat in a game in which they could have sealed a trip to the second round. 

The good news for the Bruins is twofold. They have played well in Toronto, winning both games there, and their goalie was yet again their best player. And he seemed resolved that this series is not going to go the way of the one last season, when the Bruins lost Game 5 in Boston in the same situation, up 3-1, and then lost the final two for a first-round exit in seven games. 

He was steadfast, despite the results of Tuesday night.

“I think we saw an opportunity that we missed,” Swayman said. “And we’re not going to let that happen again.”

Though Swayman admitted to the disappointment of the game, to the unhappiness at how it all played out, he said that he knew his team would respond. That they would respond for each other and for the coaching staff, for the management and the city.

“The motivation is completely internal and it’s contagious in this locker room,” Swayman said. “We’ll be a different team come Thursday.”

Does he expect the Bruins’ best game of the series back in Toronto?

“Absolutely,” Swayman said. “Absolutely. We all know what’s coming. So, I can’t be more excited.”